Tom Gilb Resources

A Library and a Vodcast Series

This page includes several of Tom Gilb’s books as well as vodcasts with Tom and Al Shalloway.

The Tom Gilb Library

Tom Gilb has been called “the grandfather of Agile” because of the influence his work had on the signatories of the Agile Manifesto. His Competitive Engineering: A Handbook For Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, and Software Engineering Using Planguage is a masterpiece and still well ahead of our time.See a copy online and download if desired (permission of author given) here.

He has written several short books that are very useful – I’ve listed a few of them here. These books are downloadable and distributable with no fee. Thanks Tom.

These are just a few of his books. More coming.

Tom Gilb: The Grandfather of Agile

Links are either digital downloads or online copies that can be downloaded.

Agile Engineering

Cost engineering

Competitive Engineering:  Handbook for Systems Engineering, Requirements Engineering, and Software Engineering Using Language.  This book is a deep dive into how to be effective from the team to the organization.

Evo Cycle

Guides: A broader and more-advanced ‘constraints’ theory.  Theory of Guides (ToG). Guides is the technology of negative constraints (don’t) and positive tools (do, use me).
I have tried to go very deep and be very innovative in exploring this topic. It is a critical category of ‘requirements’ And it is the kind of thing not well positioned in traditional agile toolkits.

Musk’s Methods Regardless of your political views of Elon Musk, he is absolutely brilliant in the way he works. A definite must read..

The ‘Penta’ Model. Tom Gilb and Al Shalloway created a more useful alternative than the ‘iron triangle’, which is unnecesssarily constraining. Inverting it doesn’t make it any better. it’s constraining and limits what can be done. The Penta model uses scope, values, efficiency, resources and design to lead to better solutions than many would think possible. Amplio Axiom #9. The relationships between scope, time, and resources are not fixed provides an overview of Penta thinking. For more, see this paper on the Penta. If you are in Amplio University, the latest session on the Penta is the 9/25/24 session.

Super Secrets & Strategies for Efficient Value Delivery In Projects and Programs, and Plans. The title pretty much says it all.

V A L U E : Value Architecture Lifecycle Universal Efficiancy.  This discusses how risk is managed in the Penta.

Simple Book Folder. What simple is is not simple and is very much misunderstood.

The following titles link to LinkedIn summaries by ChatGPT and then have the “book” attached.

Why Most Projects Fail: Ignoring Multiplicity

 

Tom Gilb videos and the Tom and Al Shalloway Vodcast Series

A TED talk by Tom on this Quantify the un-quantifiable: Tom Gilb at TEDxTrondheim.  

Tom and Al Vodcast series: 

  • Questions to consider.

    Tom and Al have found that certain questions can be very powerful.

    These questions can be about awareness or ones to ask in certain situations.

    In these unscripted sessions, Tom and Al provide one or two they’ve found useful and will ask the audience to provide theirs as well.

    Each one should be a simple question that doesn’t take a lot of time to answer. And it doesn’t require any more knowledge than what you know already. Video.  Transcript.

  • The Penta (in production, see preview here). The ‘iron triangle’ is a bad model. Inverting it doesn’t make it any better. it’s constraining and limits what can be done. The idea of the Pentagon model was co-created by Tom Gilb and Al Shalloway. They talk about how Penta model of scope, values, efficiency, resources, and design can open up new opportunities for meeting your goals on time and within budget. Get a copy of The ‘Penta’ Model document. Video.  Transcript.
  • Critical Stakeholder Values and Success Criteria. Tom and Al talk about what it takes to achieve success. A discussion about the importance of identifying critical stakeholders along with their values, success criteria and constraints will be a part of this. Get a copy of Super Secrets & Strategies for Efficient Value Delivery in Projects and Programs, and Plans.  Video.  Transcript.
  • Unleashing Agile’s Exciting Potential: Overcoming Conventional Constraints. In this unscripted episode of our new podcast, we delve into the thrilling possibilities of Agile methodology and the conventions that stand in its way. Our format is interactive, driven by your questions from the audience. Let’s embark on this journey together as we explore the dynamic world of Agile and address the barriers that hinder its full realization.  Video.  Transcript.